May 13, 2006
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington sophomore distance runner Jodi Hulett put on a strong kick over the final 600 meters to claim third place and all-conference honors at the 2006 Southland Conference Track and Field Championships here Saturday evening.
Sam Houston State got off to a strong start in defense of their title as both the men's and women's team's took slim leads after the first day.
Sam Houston got a 1-2-3 finish in the men's 10,000 meters to pull ahead of SE Louisiana in the team standings with 30 points. The Lions received 23 points in the javelin event to finish the day with 25. Northwestern State (16), Texas-San Antonio (15), Texas State (14), S.F. Austin (12) and McNeese State (5) rounded out the men's standings.
Roshunda Betts win in the women's javelin gave the Sam Houston State women a two-point lead over S.F. Austin and Texas State in the team standings.
Day two of the meet is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. to the second half of the decathlon and heptathlon. Field events will begin at 1 p.m. and running prelims get underway at 5 p.m. and the 3,000-meter steeplechase for men and women end the day at 8:30 p.m.
SE Louisiana's Chris Carter launched an SLC-best throw of 72.60 meters (238-feet, 02-inches) to win the men's javelin. Teammate Lars Larsen took second with a NCAA region-qualifying throw of 72.28 meters and Calhoun Hamilton claimed fourth with a 65.66 meter mark.
Betts, the SLC Indoor Outstanding Field Athlete who owns the SLC javelin record with a 176-09, sailed the javelin 168-feet, 11-inches for her first win of the meet.
Texas State's Sarah Stultz set a conference meet record with a throw of 55.69 meters (182-feet, 08-inches) in the women's hammer.
S.F. Austin's Ashley Monteau, who won the women's 10,000 meters in 2004, returned to the podium with a winning time of 36:17.44.
In the heptathlon, one point separates Southeastern's Amy Fledderman and Stephen F. Austin's Crystal Chang, 3,104 to 3,103. Less than 100 points separates the top five competitors in the event.
The decathlon is led by UTSA's Bryan and Tommy Wolfe. Bryan has 3,677 points through five events while Tommy had 3,577. UT Arlington freshman Collier McKenzie has 3,547 points for third place after the opening day.
